Photos included this month include only those taken from April 29 through May 29, 2005. There were 468 photos taken between those 2 dates, so it was difficult to pick and that also explains why there are 2 pages. Maybe some photos are better suited to researchers this month. Click on any thumbnail to begin.

&nbsp In this row you can see a nice picture of some pea family flower, a Morel Mushroom - we found enough of them to have Morel's with supper 2 times - and an Iris Flower arrangement which Kazuya made. He often arranges flowers in nice flower vases for our house.

&nbsp On April 30th we climbed Mt. Sogaku and Mt. Gozen in Okutama. The first picture shows an interesting Paris tetraphylla and the next 2 are 2 different species of Viola. We believe that the first one is Viola rossii and that the second one is Viola bissetii. Could be wrong though.

&nbsp Well, the first picture is labeled Viola bissetii, but it's probably not correct, because bissetii is not supposed to be hairy! The second flower is correctly labeled, and the 3rd one - well, no idea. It appears to be some plant which is lacking in chlorophyll, but I couldn't find it on the web. If you have any idea, please help me out with an e-mail.

&nbsp The same weekend continues. The first photo is kind of a pass between Mt. Sogaku and Mt. Gozen, with some weird plants growing there. The next one is a Trout lily (Erythronium japonicum) and then maybe a Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana

&nbsp In this row you can find a picture of a species of Chrysosplenium and 2 pictures of Viola phalacrocarpa - the Hill Violet. The Violets are really difficult to positively identify - first of all, there are way too many of them, and secondly, they hybridize very easily, so - the easiest way to tell the difference between these two - for example - is that this one is more fragrant than this one!
How do you like that for identifying characteristics? If anybody knows of an authoritative book on Japanese Violets, please let me know.

&nbsp First photo is a nice waterfall we ran into on the way down Mt. Gozen. The 2nd shot is another kind of Violet, and you gotta click on the next image and check out that greedy little Hover Fly - AMAZING!!

&nbsp The 1st shot is another female flower of Helwingia japonica. The 2nd shot is a repeat from last month - an Asarum caulescens. I wanted to show it again for comparison to the next 5 pictures. The 3rd shot is another species of Asarum. Can't positively identify it, too many species of Asarum around here. In this shot you'll notice a distinct difference in the leaves when compared with the next row. The flowers look very similar though.

&nbsp The first 2 shots are the same Asarum plant, one taken specifically for the flowers and the next one taken to show leaf detail. The 3rd shot was taken at Jindai Botanical Gardens. Ha, there was a sign which said Asarum tamaense, but there are 2 different species (this shot and first one in next row)! What good is the sign?! You can see - both the leaves AND the flowers are different.

&nbsp Here's the last Asarum plant - compare it to the final one in Row 9. On May 4th we went to Rikugien Gardens in Tokyo. It was the middle of the Golden Week Holiday, so it was rather crowded. It's kind of beautiful, but why the word "Gardens"? There aren't any gardens to speak of, it's mostly old growth forest. Anyway, interesting place, and you can see a few more pictures of it on the next page.